Do you think God sometimes wants His children to suffer? Does Love really want the object of Its love to suffer? A pastor I know believes that Jesus was “made perfect” through suffering, and so how much more do we need to be perfected by the same means. I mentioned to him that Jesus was perfect from his birth, God in the flesh from the get-go, and that suffering didn’t “improve” him, since if He were flawed at all, He wouldn’t have qualified as the savior. I told him that the verse he’s referring to is speaking of how Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for sin after suffering the cross. But he insists that God teaches us lessons by inflicting suffering. I told him that God gave us His Word to perfect us and His Spirit to guide us. Am I correct?

When I was younger I served in the Canadian military for a number of years and have always supported Canada’s military missions. It has been about 10 years since I came to Christ and ever since then I have been wondering if His statement on living by the sword is directed towards those who make their living in the armed forces. My pastor and many of my born-again friends espouse the idea of pacifism to such a level that it makes me wonder if I’m missing something. Are they correct in their belief that Jesus was a complete pacifist and that this is the idea He had always tried to teach us?

I was reading your study on Abraham and Isaac and you say (regarding the covenant that God made with Abraham) that it “required no behavioral standards to remain in force.” Can you elaborate on that, or explain it another way. I’m not quite sure what that means. Thanks

I was having a conversation with a bible study teacher from my church. When I said “covered by the blood” he said that I was not “theologically correct.” I was confused and he went on to explain to me that there is no blood to be covered by. Then he said the blood of Jesus was spilled and it is no more. It was a sacrifice before God and we are right with God because of it but we are not covered by it. Now, I believe that we are right with God only by accepting what Jesus did on the cross as payment for our sins and He purchased our salvation. My question is what about the scriptures that talk about His blood cleansing us?

I would appreciate your perspective on Jesus not knowing the day or hour of His second coming. It is my understanding that when Jesus became a Man he had to separate his divine nature from his human nature. Does this mean that when He was on earth His divine, infinite knowledge was not available to Him?

There are a number of well-known, widely respected, men (and a few women), pastors of huge congregations whose teachings cover everything from how to be happy and prosperous to the address where we can send our contributions. When so much of what they hold forth as “Gospel Truth” is neither Gospel nor Truth, why does God tolerate their dissemination of lies that often lead many into eternity without Christ? Why is He not more vigorous and assertive in the defense of sound doctrine?

I have often heard Christian teachers and preachers who seem to be very knowledgeable about scripture refer to the elect in various scripture passages as Christians and then sometimes as Jewish believers. Since starting to study prophecy years ago, I have always believed that the elect referred to the Jewish believers such as in Matthew 24:22 where the distress during the Great Tribulation was to be cut short for the sake of the elect. Prophetically speaking, it can be confusing if the word elect refers to one group in some of scripture and a different group in another. Is there any place in scripture that the word elect refers to Christians?

I was reading Exodus 3 where Moses was confronted with the burning bush. It says that an angel of the Lord appeared to him. My question is about the angel of the Lord that has appeared multiple times in the Bible. Do you know if this angel of the Lord is a separate being from God himself? Or is this just a means of physically appearing to man?

I enjoy your website and appreciate your knowledge of God’s word. My question concerns the true born again experience. Most church messages I’ve heard call people to the altar to confess Jesus as their Savior, but never truly prepare the convert for the broken and contrite surrender necessary for the completion of their salvation. Do you agree that our Western Christian culture has watered down the message, leaving many who believe that they are born again deceived?

I was reading this morning and in John 5:41 it says “I do not receive glory from people.” I think I understand the context of why He was saying this but it raised the question to me, what is Glory? I hear so many people saying “Give glory to God” or “Glory be to Jesus” And the Bible is filled with the word “glory” but what is it from a Spiritual and Scriptural definition?